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Post by sparklymouse on Oct 28, 2014 18:53:56 GMT -5
I didn't think this one was bad at all. It's a pretty big stereotype that every teenage kid will throw a house-destroying party if left alone over night.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Oct 29, 2014 11:12:01 GMT -5
One of my best friends was left at home when she was really little (she was born in '77). I think acceptable parenting decisions have drastically changed over the years, as we have discussed. Things that were "normal" in the 70s and 80s would be criminal today. Was it on here where we discussed the mom who had charges pressed on her after she let her son go to the park alone (and he was around 6 or 7?)
Also, if we think of Ann growing up in Princeton in the 60s, I think that leaving kids alone in Stoneybrook isn't seemed as bad as leaving them home alone in a big city such as NYC. Maybe there's a double standard?!
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Post by sparklymouse on Oct 29, 2014 13:41:32 GMT -5
Granted I don't have kids, but I still think leaving a 13 year old home alone over night would be ok in a large chunk of the country today. In places where it's not safe then it's probably not much safer for an 18 year old. Didn't Richard and Sharon get a hotel room in Stoneybrook anyway? They were a phone call away. (And yes, I was one of those kids who was left alone at a very young age. )
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,251
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Post by oldhickory on Oct 30, 2014 12:08:46 GMT -5
I read Claudia and Mean Janine the other day and it bothered me that Kristy came to the day camp alone and told the girls that David Michael would probably be coming too, and then he shows up after walking alone from his house to Stacey's. I just thought it was such a jerk move that Elizabeth let DM walk by himself. Why wouldn't she make Kristy wait for him? Maybe she left before he was ready but really, he is seven years old. Claudia eventually quits the day camp (for a good reason) so the camp was obviously running fine without every single sitter present, so Kristy could have easily shown up a little bit late if it meant DM wasn't walking alone. Compared to some of these other stories, this is pretty tame though.
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mallorypike
Sitting For The Papadakis's
If I were thirteen instead of eleven, life would be a picnic...
Posts: 1,636
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Post by mallorypike on Oct 30, 2014 22:05:45 GMT -5
Here's another pretty bad parenting decision: When Mallory had mono, Mr. and Mrs. Pike still makes her babysit her little brothers and sisters! Um, I don't think she should be looking after several young, active little kids when she is sick...
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Post by Honeybee on Oct 30, 2014 23:57:48 GMT -5
Here's another pretty bad parenting decision: When Mallory had mono, Mr. and Mrs. Pike still makes her babysit her little brothers and sisters! Um, I don't think she should be looking after several young, active little kids when she is sick... I agreed with you. Who want to take care of siblings, when you have mono. Mallory should be resting. Mr. & Mrs. Pike, should hire a sitter, not depend on Mallory.
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Post by thejunkbucket on Sept 14, 2015 13:19:39 GMT -5
Here's another one - Watson and Elizabeth adopting Emily but not telling the kids about it until ONE DAY before Emily comes home. I do not understand how that whole adoption worked. I am wondering if Ann did ANY research at all. Or if in the 80s in Vietnam it was just like, here's a kid. I had always thought you had to spend some time in the home country to work through bureaucratic matters, etc. I don't know how things worked in Vietnam, but I was adopted from Guatemala in the 1980s. My siblings and I learned about our prospective parents in January 1988 and we met them for the first time at the Guatemalan airport in July, when they flew down to get us. But in between, we communicated via snail mail ('member those?) and telephone. Once they got to Guatemala in July, we had to wait a week until the adoption process was completed. I was only 8, so I don't know what that entailed, but all my adoptive parents said was (in Spanish, of course) "We just have to wait a little while before we can return home." So those seven days, we spent it sightseeing and stuff. We couldn't venture too far into the country, because there was a civil war going on.
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Enigma
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 128
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Post by Enigma on Dec 16, 2015 19:01:57 GMT -5
Didn't some of the plots revolve around the BSC members knowing the kids better than their own parents? After baby-sitting a handful of times for a few hours each, they were able to figure stuff out and be the ones to tell the cue the clueless parents about their poor parenting choices and instead of getting mad at the sitters, the parents would be all like, "Thank you....I had no clue about that......You're such a great sitter..." As a kid, it made me think that the BSC was all that great and how wonderful and smart those girls were and how everyone loved them. As an adult, I find it both creepy and quite snark-able. I realize that Ann M. Martin (or the ghostwriters) were trying to create good storylines that made the protagonists look "heroic" but does anyone else feel it was overdone (also are there any examples were the clients totally snap at the BSC members for doing this and stop using them?).
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on Dec 16, 2015 21:06:44 GMT -5
Didn't some of the plots revolve around the BSC members knowing the kids better than their own parents? After baby-sitting a handful of times for a few hours each, they were able to figure stuff out and be the ones to tell the cue the clueless parents about their poor parenting choices and instead of getting mad at the sitters, the parents would be all like, "Thank you....I had no clue about that......You're such a great sitter..." As a kid, it made me think that the BSC was all that great and how wonderful and smart those girls were and how everyone loved them. As an adult, I find it both creepy and quite snark-able. I realize that Ann M. Martin (or the ghostwriters) were trying to create good storylines that made the protagonists look "heroic" but does anyone else feel it was overdone (also are there any examples were the clients totally snap at the BSC members for doing this and stop using them?). There was Mrs. Barrett from book 5. She failed to tell Dawn that Marnie was allergic to to chocolate. I don't remember which book this was, but Buddy called Dawn to help him with a family tree project. I was like wtf? Dawn shouldn't be able to help you with a family tree project, your mother should.
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Post by anzuhana on Dec 17, 2015 8:35:06 GMT -5
^ I think Buddy calling Dawn about the family tree was the same book where Mrs. Barrett forgot to tell Dawn that Marnie was allergic to chocolate.
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